Ignition Stuck in Acc, won't move. Tumbler Replacement?

[m3f_FitzRoger]

Well, this same problem has happened to me, but I just got to work. Pulled into my parking spot and went to turn off the car, but instead of turning off, the key free-wheel back to the off position and locked, while the car and steering wheel remained on and able to turn. The key will come out and go in, but it will not turn in either direction. I had to kill the car by slowley letting the clutch out with the brake on and in gear, and used the 13mm wrench in the tool compartment to loosen and remove the negative cable on the battery to turn off the car's electricity. Thought I would reinstall the neg. cable and push-start the car after work to get home (thank GOD for sticks), but I think I will use the tools from our mechanical lab here at work to fix this at noon. I'll post a follow-up when I get it fixed to confirm.



Thanks for the help. I've has this problem before on a different M3 but it was a broken tumbler. This seems to be more of the problem pointed out in this thread.

[m3f_turbotuli]

This thread seems to have helped many people and I am hoping it will help me as well! My problem is very similar, but instead of my key being stuck in one position, I am able to move it towards the On position. When turning Clockwise it clicks once and then it moves very freely, but stops again without starting the car. When turning Counter-clockwise towards off, the position it stops at seems to be the Accessory position, because they all remain on. I tried to spin the shaft back last night, but it was dark and I ran out of patience. I am wondering if the shaft is supposed to retract COMPLETELY when I turn it or will it still be stick out a couple millimeters? I have attached a picture of the position the shaft is currently in. Sorry for the low quality, but you can see how far it is sticking out. Unfortunately, the car is in another town, so I want to make sure I am understanding correctly before I drive the 45 miles to look at it again...I've also attached a couple of pictures of the key in the "Off" Position and the "On" position, which seem to be too far left currently. I feel like if I am able to turn the shaft towards the front of the car, the key will be aligned in the correct positions...Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

P.S. Would push starting the car work? Now that I think of it, the key may be stuck in the "On" Position, because the oil lights, etc. come on like when starting the car...

[m3f_FitzRoger]

Yes~



It took a few minutes to take out the plastic screw holding the bottom half of the cover under the steering wheel, remove the red paint over the two set screws, loosen the set screws, pull the brown switch off the end, turn the shaft clockwise with pliers, then turn the key to start. My tumbler was junk, so I removed it after the usual nervous breakdown (haha!) trying to get the pin to push the locking lever out of the way so the tumbler came out. I had to really wrench the tumbler around in circles before it would come out. The lever wouldn't go all the way in when depressed with the allen wrench, so that's why it took so long to get. My car has EWS so I taped my old key in the middle of the antenna and tucked it up under the dash. To make it look normal, I put a dummy EWS antenna on the new tumbler. Looks great and starts every time.





FitzRoger

This thread seems to have helped many people and I am hoping it will help me as well! My problem is very similar, but instead of my key being stuck in one position, I am able to move it towards the On position. When turning Clockwise it clicks once and then it moves very freely, but stops again without starting the car. When turning Counter-clockwise towards off, the position it stops at seems to be the Accessory position, because they all remain on. I tried to spin the shaft back last night, but it was dark and I ran out of patience. I am wondering if the shaft is supposed to retract COMPLETELY when I turn it or will it still be stick out a couple millimeters? I have attached a picture of the position the shaft is currently in. Sorry for the low quality, but you can see how far it is sticking out. Unfortunately, the car is in another town, so I want to make sure I am understanding correctly before I drive the 45 miles to look at it again...I've also attached a couple of pictures of the key in the "Off" Position and the "On" position, which seem to be too far left currently. I feel like if I am able to turn the shaft towards the front of the car, the key will be aligned in the correct positions...Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

P.S. Would push starting the car work? Now that I think of it, the key may be stuck in the "On" Position, because the oil lights, etc. come on like when starting the car...

[m3f_Jameson Davis]

Just wanted to say " THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST ON HOW TO FIX THIS "



Directions Were Right On And It Worked!!!





Took 15 min and was up and Running.....



thanks

[m3f_das borgen]

Just wanted to say " THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST ON HOW TO FIX THIS "



Directions Were Right On And It Worked!!!





Took 15 min and was up and Running.....



thanks

great dead thread revival and welcome to the boards

[m3f_WRXEATR]

great dead thread revival and welcome to the boards

+1


Better to find your answer in an existing thread by searching than starting a new thread.

[m3f_Ricco]

This should definitely be stickied!

[m3f_vyrus0utbreak]

I tried to do the procedure involving pulling out the cover and resetting the tumbler but when I did that nothing was changed. The key still spun around and would not catch anything and my car was still stuck in acc. As i type this message now, I wait for CAA to tow my car the the mechanic :'(

[m3f_Black Thunder]

This forum has helped me a lot and I would like to thank all of you that have participated, you really helped me out a lot. My car had the same problem and never thought I could actually get to do it myself... I can't even change a light bulb let alone fix an ignition on a bmw till today. I'm in Lesotho and you guys on the other side of the world. You just saved me a truck load of money. Cheers guys! I'm gonna miss the steering lock feature though, I can't lock it anymore together with the key spinning. They made for good security.